Turmeric & Coconut Muesli

I love it when I’m making an old favourite and I get a flash of inspiration for how to make it even better!  This is one of those times.  I love making my own muesli, it’s SO quick and easy (seriously, 15 mins) and you can use up all sort of odds and ends of ingredients in jars in the pantry. 

Whilst I’ll give you the ‘recipe’ it really is a matter of using what you’ve got at hand (nuts, seeds, grains if you eat them, coconut in whatever shape/form you have, dried fruits if you want them), adding a little bit of oil (coconut, butter, macadamia) and some spice (enter brilliant flash) and a tiny bit of sweetener (totally optional).

I’ve been eating this turmeric coconut muesli non stop since I made it on the weekend – straight from the jar, sprinkled on yoghurt/cream/ice cream, added onto my morning smoothie and topped onto individual lemon yoghurt cakes I took to a friends for dinner on Saturday night.  So versatile.  If you’ve got my cookbook you’ll have my original Seed and Nut recipe which as you’ll know I can eat for breakfast or dessert. I LOVE it with stewed apples and ice cream probably the most!

So, back to my mini flash of brilliance: turmeric.  Turmeric truly is a spice with superpowers.  I use it as an anti-inflammatory for all my aches and pains.  I haven’t been using it as much lately so I must get  back into cooking with my turmeric paste much more regularly.  I’ve done a whole  post on turmeric  with a recipe for golden paste and golden elixir to add to your morning routine, so you can check that out here.  Adding turmeric and cinnamon to this muesli adds a nice golden glow to the look of it as well as those health benefits.  I buy good quality ground turmeric & cinnamon from Changing Habits and you only need a little bit – just be careful as turmeric does stain very easily!

The other difference with this particular batch of muesli is that there are hardly any nuts (in fact I should really have left them out as you can hardly notice them).  I love nuts but they don’t always love me, so I  only added about 1/2 cup of flaked almonds.

Before I get to the recipe for the muesli, I’ll give you the details for the Lemon Yoghurt Cakes I made over the weekend.

I wanted to make a dessert to take to friends that wasn’t made from some kind of nut meal, as I said, I am trying to reduce my nut intake at the moment to give my guts a rest from digesting them.  I did a little google search and came across this recipe from Low Tox Life.  It was a great one using tapioca, buckwheat and coconut flours! I made the recipe into these individual muffins and it made 9.

To assemble them, drizzle with the lemon syrup, sprinkle with the turmeric power muesli and serve with your choice of cream/yoghurt/ice cream.  I added a little pinch of bee pollen from Bee One Third too just for fun and it turns out that my friend knows the guy who’s business it is and he has bee hives on the top of many buildings around Brisbane, that’s pretty cool! I love supporting local businesses.

So, without further ado, here is my recipe.

Turmeric Coconut Muesli

• 2 cups coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup flaked almonds (optional)
• 1 cup nuts of your choice (optional – I like macadamias and walnuts)
• 1 cup puffed buckwheat
• 1/2 cup pepitas
• 1/2 cup buckwheat kernels
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp honey (optional – omit for 30 Day Wellness Challenge)
• doTERRA essential oils – try adding 1 drop cinnamon, 4 drops wild orange and 3 drops ginger (Sim & Sassy also works well)
• 1/3 cup oil (coconut, macadamia or butter – or half butter/half oil)
• 1 cup mixed dried fruit (mine contains blueberries, goji berries, sultanas & white mulberries) (for 30 Day Challenge stick with lower sugar options like goji berries or omit).

1. Preheat oven to 160C/350F.
2. In a large bowl put coconut, almonds, puffed buckwheat, pepitas & buckwheat kernels.
3. In a small saucepan over a medium heat mix the oil, turmeric, cinnamon & honey. Stir through the essential oils.
4. Pour the oil mix over the coconut mix and stir through well.
5. Tip the mix out onto a large oven tray lined with baking paper.
6. Bake in the oven for 10-15 mins, checking and stirring once or twice to make sure it browns evenly.
7. Remove and allow to cool.

Enjoy!